


Liar

by agitatedGecko



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Family, Gen, but that's nothing new, takashi is younger than in canon, the fujiwaras love natsume so much, touko's POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 01:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17235122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agitatedGecko/pseuds/agitatedGecko
Summary: When Takashi was younger, he was worse at hiding the fact that he could see youkai. What if he had been welcomed into the Fujiwara home then?





	Liar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SparkyFrootloops](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparkyFrootloops/gifts).



> This is for Frooty, who had the idea! Thanks for convincing me to finally write something and cheering me on!

There were many events that Fujiwara Touko could claim have irrevocably altered her life, for the better or for the worse. Meeting Shigeru stood out to her, as did the day they got married and started a new life together, settling in Shigeru’s family home. There were also special days of pain, such as the day of her father’s death, and the day the local doctor had told her and Shigeru that they were never going to be able to have a child. But no day stood out as the simple, unassuming event of Natsume Takashi entering the Fujiwara household for the first time.

Touko had spent the entire morning cleaning until the house was spotless, and then some. Shigeru, in comparison, seemed fairly calm considering the incoming new addition to the family. He sat back calmly at the dining table, but the sound of his fingers tapping the table gave him away. The tense silence was broken by a rap on their front door by impatient knuckles. Touko quickly stooped to pick up the feather duster she had dropped at the sound. She steeled her nerves in front of the still closed front door, Shigeru’s hand on her back giving her the strength to finally open it.

Before them stood an uncomfortable-looking woman and a little boy. The woman had chapped lips painted red and relentlessly tapping high heels that longed to be anywhere but here. And Takashi-- well, he looked the same as he did in the hospital a few days ago. Still underfed, especially for an eight year-old, and still with that hunted look in his eyes. The only difference to his appearance was that his matted hair wasn’t wrapped in bandages anymore.

“Hello,” greeted Touko to the woman- Kimi-san? Kiri-san? In all her nervousness she had forgotten Natsume’s previous caretaker’s name. When she offered only a silent, curt nod in return, Touko crouched to meet Takashi’s eyes.

“Good to see you again, Takashi-kun! Are you feeling better?” she asked with what she hoped was a comforting smile.

The boy’s eyes went to the ground, but he nodded and responded politely, “Yes, thank you.”

The woman finally spoke up. “Well, I’d love to stay, but I have a meeting in thirty minutes.”

Without waiting for the polite response that Touko was preparing, and without saying so much as a goodbye to Takashi, the woman turned and left. All that was left behind was the smell of cigarette smoke, a few boxes, and an apprehensive-looking little boy.

Touko was left speechless. She feet like she should say something, but that would risk letting indignant rage slip into her voice. What a terrible way to treat a child! Thankfully, Shigeru saved the day in placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and telling Takashi, “We’re very excited to have you in our home. Why don’t we help you settle in?”

Instantly, Touko’s tensed shoulders relaxed, and with a little spark of victory, she noticed the boy’s shoulders relax a little as well. He gave a tiny, brave smile, nodded, and moved into his new home.

 

\---

 

“I bet you’re getting a little stir-crazy in here, Takashi-kun,” said Shigeru with a smile. Takashi made a noncommittal noise and finished the last of his dinner. Touko was glad, the poor boy looked too skinny to be healthy. The way he scarfed down his food made her worry about how his previous foster parents had been treating him, but worrying about it only made her angry, so she tried to shove those thoughts away.

“Well, we’ve signed you up for the elementary school nearby. You’ll be starting tomorrow. Do you feel ready for that? It’s okay if you need more time to adjust,” she said, to which Takashi nodded somewhat reluctantly.

“It’s fine,” he replied, voice small, but he looked down at his empty bowl in a way that told Touko that he wasn’t.

“Takashi-kun,” she said, voice gentle. “I am more than certain that you will make plenty of friends, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

He he bit the inside of his cheek. “They’ll just say I’m-” he began, but cut himself off with a small shake of his head.

What was he going to say?  She felt Shigeru’s hand on hers before she could ask. He shook his head slightly, and Touko understood. Maybe she was pushing a little too hard. She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.

“What’s your favorite subject, Takashi-kun?” Shigeru asked.

“I, um, like to read,” he responded.

“Do you like math?”

Takashi said nothing, but his wrinkled nose said enough.

Shigeru laughed. “Don’t worry, me neither!”

Takashi’s face relaxed, and morphed into an genuine smile, albeit small. Touko squeezed her husband’s hand, and they shared a secret, triumphant glance.

They began to clean the table in a comfortable silence, Takashi insisting on helping them. The calm atmosphere was broken by a loud clattering noise. Touko and Shigeru turned from washing the dishes together to see a fallen bowl right by Takashi’s feet. Thankfully it wasn’t broken, but what was more terrifying was the look on the boy’s face, stricken in panic.

“Takashi-kun, what’s wrong?” Touko asked with urgency, rushing to him in an instant. The child seemed to realize that he wasn’t the only one in the room and stared at Touko and Shigeru with something akin to horror. Immediately, he crouched to pick up the fallen bowl, and attempted to look at any spot in the room other than Touko, Shigeru, or the ceiling.

“I-it’s fine,” he said, his voice wavering in a way that suggested otherwise. Touko gently took the bowl from him and moved to put her hand on his shoulder, drawing back with a pang when he flinched subconciously.

“Why don’t you go to bed early?” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “You have a big day tomorrow!”

He nodded and practically ran to his new room. Touko and Shigeru exchanged a worried glance but said nothing and finished cleaning the dishes in a tense silence.

In the quiet, Touko remembered what Takashi’s previous foster mother had said to her about weeks earlier, when she had told her at the hospital that she had been planning on taking the child in. She had scoffed and asked her why she would want to have someone like Takashi in her home.

Baffled, Touko had responded, “Why wouldn’t I want to take care of a poor boy in need of a home?”

The woman had sighed in response and said, “Look Fujiwara-san, you seem like a nice lady, so I’m going to tell you this: you don’t want someone like that kid.”

Touko could only manage to choke out, “What?” How someone could say something so terrible about a mere eight year-old?

“He’s a liar, Fujiwara-san. He pretends to see things that aren’t there.”

 

\---

 

Touko was beginning to notice a pattern in Takashi’s returns from school. He was always either soaked to the bone or covered in mud and leaves. At first she had worried that the other children at the school were bullying him, but whenever she asked him about it he would shake his head vehemently and reassure her with a small but visible smile that no one in school was being mean to him in any way. In the end, she just chalked it up to Takashi exploring the forest outside of his new home. It began to be a tradition for Touko to take his dirty uniform to clean, while Shigeru gave him ice to put on his bruises from whenever he fell over. However, one day Takashi came with the same muddy uniform, but held in his hands something quite new.

“Um, I found this cat,” he said rather sheepishly, holding up a very round calico cat, who meowed in greeting.

“What an adorable little kitty!” exclaimed Touko before she could restrain herself, rushing over to cradle the cat’s face in her hands. It seemed to smile up at her with intelligent green eyes. “Where did you find it?”

“…In the woods?” he said, phrasing it like a question. 

He visibly steeled himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, and a question flew out of his lips, almost too quickly to be understood: “Can I keep him?”

Touko knew that she should probably say no. The cat looked a little too… well-fed to be a stray and probably had an owner. But once she opened her mouth, she caught sight of his face. His eyes were wide with a pleading hope that wavered her resolve.

“For now yes,” she began, and Takashi’s wide grin of a response made her heart do a little cartwheel. “But we need to ask Shigeru to help us see if he already has a home. If not, we can welcome him into the family.”

Takashi gave a sudden, big bow, which seemed to startle even the poor calico in his arms. “Thank you!”

Shigeru fell in love with the cat almost instantly, calling him “Nyangoro,” while Touko in turn called him “Nyankichi-kun.” Soon, just like with Takashi, it was hard to remember a life without the cheerful little cat. She grew used to his rubbing against her legs when she cooked and his happy purring every time she fed him fried shrimp or squid. When they couldn’t find an owner of the cat, it felt like the whole house had sighed in relief. 

As much as Nyankichi might like her food, Touko felt like he liked Takashi best. And the feeling was mutual, shown whenever she found him absentmindedly playing with the calico. His shoulders seemed to relax around his new friend, and Touko sometimes even found him mumbling to whom he called “Nyanko-sensei,” which she found especially cute.

Touko also began to notice something else. A little, worn-looking notebook that looked older than Takashi himself often hung around him, either on his desk or in his bag whenever he went for a walk or off to school. Not only Natsume seemed to take gentle care of it, but Nyankichi too, always keeping it in eyeshot, which Touko found quite strange.

It was under his watchful gaze that she once opened it when Takashi left it unattended on his desk. To her surprise, the pages inside contained nothing more than random, unintelligible squiggles. There were even gaps in the notebook where it seemed that pages had been ripped out. She closed it slowly, even more confused than she had been when she opened it. But all confusion was forgotten when she felt a comfortable warmth at her side. 

“This is important to Takashi-kun, isn’t it?” she asked out loud.

There was no response to her question, unless Nyankichi butting his head against her hand could count as one.

“Well then, Nyankichi-kun,” she said with a wink. “Make sure he takes good care of it.”

Strong, content purring filled the room.

 

\---

 

Touko didn’t even need to say anything, as soon as she rushed to the kitchen to find a towel, Shigeru simply looked up from his newspaper to ask, “Again?”

The only response that she could give him is a sharp nod, too focused on soaking the towel in water and wringing it out. Takashi seemed to have a knack for getting sick out of nowhere. Many a time, Touko would just find him passed out on the floor, with Nyankichi keeping watch right next to him. More often than not, he would be clutching that strange notebook of his with white knuckles.

Touko clutched the wet towel to her chest in worry. She and Shigeru had no experience in raising a child, but she was sure that eight year-old boys were not supposed to come down with fevers so often. Maybe they should get Takashi to see a doctor sometime. She rushed up the stairs, hoping that Takashi’s temperature would lower soon.

As she creeped down the hallway, she did her best not to wake the poor boy up. In his feverish state, he would often mumble strange things in his sleep. Touko was certain that some of them sounded like names, the most common being “Reiko.” She peered through the doorway, finding both the boy and his cat fast asleep. She smiled softly at the sight.

The peace was interrupted by a startled gasp, coming from Takashi himself. His eyes snapped open, but he made no other movements, paralyzed. With a shock, Touko recognized that look he gave the plain ceiling, as if it were about to attack him any minute. The look on his face perfectly matched the one that he had on one of his first dinners at their home, when he dropped the bowl.

Touko made to reach out to Takashi, wondering if she could ever be enough to wipe that worry from his eyes, but before she could, his tense body relaxed. Color seeped back into his face as he slipped into a small, tired smile.

“I’m sorry, I can’t really do that right now,” he told the ceiling. There was a pause, a blank space in an unfinished script where a response was supposed to be, and Takashi gave a small nod.

“I understand,” he said. “But I’ll do it tomorrow, I promise.”

Touko hid behind the doorframe in silence for a while after that. There were a lot of things she still didn’t understand about Takashi, and she wished she could just peel back the protective layers of false smiles and promises that he was alright and see everything, the good and the bad. She wished she could hold his hand and tell him that his relatives’ cruel words nor the secrets he kept mattered-- that the only thing she cared about was his safety and happiness. But she knew that he was afraid, and was afraid herself that she could not be enough to take away that pain. 

For now, she would settle with placing a feather-soft kiss to his warm forehead, followed by a cool cloth. The little smile on Takashi’s face in reaction probably was a figment of her imagination, anyway.

 

\---

 

With the presence of a child and his cat, the house had grown livelier, as if every smile Takashi gave brightened it a little bit more. However, something had begun to feel off recently. If all the running upstairs at night meant anything, Nyankichi seemed to notice it too, a restless energy materializing in cold drafts and creaking floorboards. The other day, Touko’s vegetable garden was destroyed, with strange paw prints littering the dirt, and she was feeling oddly strong migraines, some so terrible that she had to sit down.

“It’s almost like a curse,” she had joked at the dinner table. Shigeru had laughed, and Takashi had stayed silent, staring down at his food.

Apparently, Shigeru had gone through a similar problem when he was a little boy. Touko was cleaning when she passed by his study, where he was telling Takashi the story. Seeing his bright eyes and reacting faces made her feel warm, reminding her of stories her father used to tell her when she was little of his boyhood adventures. Shigeru talked of a friend he made, a lonely older girl. Boys would throw rocks at her and would call her weird, but she never seemed to stop smiling.

“Why didn’t they like her?” Takashi asked.

“Sometimes she would do strange things, like talk to trees, and people didn’t like that.”

“Oh,” Takashi said, biting his lip.

“They would call her a liar and other mean names,” Shigeru said, and as Takashi tensed, so did Touko’s heart. “But I never believed them, I just played with her because I thought she was fun.”

Takashi smiled at that, and the story continued, the girl in it going to Shigeru’s house and destroying his room. After that, the bad feelings in the house went away, and so did she.

That afternoon, another migraine had wormed its way into Touko’s head. It seemed to get worse and worse, and the aspirin she took had no effect. She was debating on whether she should call a doctor or not when a large crash sounded upstairs.  _ Takashi _ .

Knocking the chair she was sitting in over, she rushed to his room. When she arrived at Takashi’s room, Shigeru was already there, face unreadable. Takashi was staring back, frozen in the middle of the room, with Nyankichi cleaning his paws at his feet. The windows were shattered and paper and glass were everywhere, but the two were unharmed.  _ That’s weird, _ Touko thought, startled.  _ My headache is gone. _

“What happened here?” asked Shigeru.

“I… got carried away,” Takashi responded, unwilling to meet either of their eyes. “I’m really sorry, I’ll pay for it--” When Shigeru stepped forward, he flinched, as if waiting for a blow.

“You don’t need to pay for anything, Takashi-kun,” he said, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. “It’s your home, after all.”

“O-oh,” Takashi said, lip trembling. As he tried to blink back tears, Touko noticed his clenched fists and white knuckles.  _ Oh. _

“You want to tell us what happened, don’t you?” she said softly, stepping forward. 

He looked up at her with wide eyes and glanced away, picking at the edge of his shirt.

“It’s something we don’t understand, right? Something we can’t see?” Takashi hesitated for a second, and then nodded, biting the inside of his cheek.

“I-- I don’t want you to think--” He stopped himself. She crouched in front of him to meet his eyes and placed her hand on his other shoulder.

“We would never think you’re lying to us, Takashi-kun,” she said to his watering eyes, so full of pain and loneliness. “You’re a part of our family, and nothing that happens could ever make us believe otherwise.”

He dived into her arms, shoulders shaking with sobbing hiccups. Shigeru joined in, and Nyankichi rubbed against them, purring softly. Together, the Fujiwara family hugged Natsume Takashi for all of the lonely years they couldn’t be there for him, and for the coming years that they will always be.

 

\---

 

“I’m home!” Takashi calls, and Touko, folding a bedsheet, turns to greet him and Nyankichi at his feet.

“Hello, Takashi-kun!”

“Oh, I’ll help,” he says, and runs to where she stands by the clothesline to hold the basket. Touko smiles. It’s been a year since he first arrived at the Fujiwara doorstep, and much has changed. His frame isn’t quite as thin anymore, and he’s definitely taller. There’s also the friends who frequent his house: Nishimura Satoru and Kitamoto Atsushi with their constant friendly bickering, the sweet Taki Tooru, and Tanuma Kaname, a silent support always at Takashi’s side. They all are able to draw something special out of Takashi, out of his thick barriers, something that makes him smile genuinely. Touko hopes that she and Shigeru have aided in brightening his smile as well.

A caw pulls her out of her reverie. A familiar crow ruffles his feathers in greeting.

“He always comes to say hi when it’s close to raining!” Touko tells Takashi, giving her friend a little wave. “Oh, I hope it doesn’t rain. Maybe we should hurry so that the clothes don’t get wet.”  
Takashi dutifully holds the basket a little higher, and Touko places the bedsheet inside.

“Shigeru-san told me that after meeting their mate, crows spend their rest of their lives together,” she says, plucking a shirt from the clothesline. “I’ve always wondered why he’s alone.”

Takashi brightens and points at the tree. “He’s not alone!” he says, smiling. “It’s kind of hard to see, but there’s another one right there!”

The crow flies off the tree and into the sky, still alone.

“Incredible,” says Takashi. “I’ve never seen a white crow before.”

All Touko sees next to her little crow friend is open air and leaves fluttering in the wind, but when she looks into her son’s smiling eyes, she sees nothing but the truth.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
